I´m trying to find information about and photos of Psamisia but can´t come up with anything apart from it´s function as a food plant for catapiller species. Can anyone guide me to more information on this? Thanks.
Psammisia is listed in Plantas Utiles del Ecuador as having comestible berries for human consumption as well - it belongs to the grouping of Ericaceous fruit plants that are called Joyapa here (the name covers some 3-5 genera). It's not well known outside of South America, though, so I doubt that much info will be even findable. I'll have a boo through my books tonight and see what I can dig up, though. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the berries are quite tasty, particularly the ones that are red when ripe.
Thank you Lorax. Here are what I think are several species of Psamisia photographed in Colombia (with two photos of one of them). What do you think?
I have a great deal of trouble distinguishing between Psammisia, Thibaudia, and Cavendishia, which are the collective Joyapas; the only thing that triggers Cavendishia for me is the presence of bracts behind the flowers. This said, from my little field-guide to cloud-forest flowers, it looks like your third photo (3815) might be P. ulbrichiana. I can also tell you that it's one of the species that I eat on sight when I encounter it in the forests here. It's quite sweet. According to MOBOT/TROPICOS photos, the last one (7314) is likely P. multijuga. If you were in Ecuador and not Colombia, I'd say P. martiniana, but that's endemic to me. I can't find the first pair anywhere.
